


Alternate Ending

by PiscesDragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon except for the last 2 minutes that don't exist, Fix-It, Getting Together, M/M, My take on a better ending, Unbeta-ed, canon until it's not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 10:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18636448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiscesDragon/pseuds/PiscesDragon
Summary: The night before the lions leave, the paladins are all together again. Keith learns that Shiro is starting to move on after the war and knows he has to be brave and go after what he wants before it's too late. Midnight confessions lead to some surprises for both of them before the lions take to the sky.





	Alternate Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a behind the scenes look at the ending scene of the series (minus the last 2 minutes of epilogue that I choose to believe doesn't exist because it was horrendous).
> 
> This was the first VLD fan fiction I wrote, and I've finally gotten around to finishing it. Just my take on what I like to think happened...
> 
> No beta on this because I just wanted to get it posted.

It had been one year since reality had been saved along with everyone in it. One year since they had been shattered by the loss of a friend and loved one who made the ultimate sacrifice for them and the entire universe.

Six months ago Shiro had watched Keith leave Earth with the Blades to help round up anyone trying to fill the power vacuum left by Sendak and Honerva. Six months of trying to fill the large emptiness in his life he had recently come to realize Keith filled so well. He kept himself busy with the  _ Atlas _ and work, but lately he was starting to wonder what to do with himself now that an entire life unexpectedly lay before him.

They were together again, finally, sitting around a circular table on Altea. Coran was in his element, playing host and obviously enjoying the company surrounding him. Shiro worried that he got lonely with no one around that could relate to everything he’d gone through. Pidge and Hunk had spent much of the last year with their families and tinkering with their own projects, trying to find their place in the universe as paladins and leaders of Earth. Lance was finally starting to show signs of recovering from his grief - although they knew it would be a long process for him and Coran.

Keith was telling them about the work he’d been doing to bring democracy to the Galra people and being asked to become their leader but turning it down.

Shiro wasn’t surprised - Keith never had taken to leadership willingly. In this case though, he was wise enough to recognize that the Galra needed to move away from putting their faith in any one person to lead them. It was time to change and move forward. They needed to do things differently in order to survive in a universe where their civilization had harmed so many for so long.

“So what have you been up to? Keeping busy now that Earth is safe and fairly peaceful?” Keith asked, smiling and relaxed. 

“Yeah.  _ Atlas _ keeps me busy. And… I’ve kind of started seeing someone,” Shiro said nervously. “Sort of. I guess?”

“Really? Who’s the lucky guy?” Lance asked, shooting a look at Hunk and Pidge as he leaned over the table in interest.

“Just someone from work. He’s bridge crew on the Atlas. Do any of you remember Curtis?” This news was met with only a half tic of perfect silence.

“CURTIS??” Lance barely avoided spewing his drink across the table. “Shiro, you cradle-robbing DOG! I never would have guessed it!”

His cackling echoed through the air for a moment, getting louder when he noticed the way Shiro had paled slightly.

“What?” Shiro stuttered. “What are you talking about?”

“Shiro, he’s the same age as my sister, Veronica,” Lance laughed. “He’s younger than Keith!”

It didn’t seem possible but somehow Shiro paled even more. He looked over at Keith with a wide-eyed look, as if begging his friend to somehow protect his honor. “Really?”

Shiro glanced quickly from Lance and Hunk, who were enjoying the whole exchange to no end, to Pidge and Keith, who didn’t seem to find it funny at all. Keith had gone preternaturally still, his face twisted into a small frown. Shiro felt like he was somehow missing a piece of a puzzle and gave him a questioning look. Keith just gave a small shrug of agreement, looking like he couldn’t care less about the whole conversation.

Lance continued gently ribbing Shiro for a few minutes until Keith suddenly stood up from the table. “I’m going to go call my mom and check on how their delivery is going.”

He started to walk away as Shiro replied with a crooked smile, “A leader’s job is never done, huh?”

Keith didn’t respond or even acknowledge Shiro had spoken. He walked down the path, back toward the rooms where they were staying for their short visit. Shiro noticed the strong set of his shoulders and couldn’t help but admire the man Keith had become. He shouldn’t be surprised - Keith had been amazing him since the day they’d met so many years ago.

“Is something bugging him?” Shiro asked as Keith disappeared around a corner.

Pidge gave him a half-lidded stare that made it very clear she thought he was a moron. “Gee, you think?” she said flatly. Receiving only a confused look in response, she added “Shiro, you’re lucky you’re pretty. Because the depth of your stupidity is sometimes immeasurable.”

Shiro’s expression flickered quickly between shock and anger for a moment. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Pidge sighed. “Just go talk to him,” she said quietly.

~~~**~~*~~**~~~

Shiro had decided to give Keith some space, taking the coward’s way out and going back to his own room for a while first. He changed into the light gray sweatpants and the black tank he would sleep in, hoping that appearing more casual and out of uniform would make it easier for he and Keith to have a relaxed conversation. He didn’t know exactly when the distance had crept in between them, but he hated it. He missed Keith - missed the comfortable relationship they’d once had - but he had no idea how to fix things. The truth was, things were never going to be the way Shiro really wanted them to be. Maybe in trying to accept that, he had created the chasm between them himself.

After stalling for an hour checking messages and updates from the  _ Atlas _ , Shiro finally felt ready to face whatever he had done to anger Keith.

He knocked quietly at his friend’s door, hoping that he hadn’t decided to turn in early. Keith opened the door, and Shiro saw that he had changed into a loose red shirt and lounge pants. He was surprised by how young Keith looked when out of uniform, but then realized it had been a long time since they’d had a chance to spend any time together in a relaxed setting.

“So… Curtis, huh?” Keith asked in lieu of a greeting as he walked back into the room. Shiro followed him and gave a small shrug in response, looking down at the floor as he heard the door seal shut behind him. “I kind of feel a little sorry for you.”

“Why’s that?” Shiro looked up to see a smirk playing on Keith’s face.

“He’s a shit kisser.”

Whatever it was Shiro expected to hear, that was not it. His mouth fell open but continued moving so he looked like a gaping fish. Keith almost laughed at him. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Shiro so flustered in his life.

“Really though,” Keith continued, unable to help himself. “He’s worse than Lance. And that’s saying something.”

“LANCE.” The word came out of Shiro’s mouth in a tortured combination of a whisper and a whine, his voice going at least two octaves higher than normal. Keith smiled and swallowed his laughter. If he had known that Shiro’s reaction was going to be this funny, he would have discussed his personal life with his best friend a lot sooner.

“In all fairness to him,” Keith said with a small chuckle,  “there was a LOT of Nunville involved. It was a long time ago. Just don’t tell him I told you - I was sworn never to speak of it.”

Shiro’s face looked as if suddenly everything he knew about the universe was a lie. His wide eyes and blank stare gave transparency to the short-circuiting going on in his brain. For a man who had died, existed in the astral plane for a while, been brought back by having his soul put into his clone’s body, and walked around with a giant robo-arm powered by magic, you would think that being able to surprise him would take a lot more effort. Keith waited patiently for the gears to start turning again in Shiro’s brain, wondering how long it would take for him to remember to blink.

“You really didn’t know?” Keith asked. “Really? I always felt like I was being so obvious. Plus, I assumed you of all people could read me better than anybody.”

“You’ve always been a pretty private person, Keith,” Shiro said after a few minutes of silence. “Obviously especially when it comes to your love life. You never talked about any of that stuff with me back in your cadet days, and it’s not like it ever really came up when we were all together in the Castle. The only person that ever brought up stuff like that was Lance, because of… Allura.” He still had a hard time saying her name, let alone to discuss what Lance had lost. “I wasn’t going to pry. And after everything, I guess we were busy and didn’t talk much about what was going on with us. Everybody kind of went their separate ways to recover for a while. And I thought... You had Acxa…”

He trailed off, not needing to explain exactly how wrong he obviously was about his assumptions.

“Yeah, Acxa…” Keith laughed. “That was never going to happen. If there was ever any question as to what I was into, she helped me figure that out pretty quickly. Luckily she took it pretty well. And it worked out for her anyway - she spends a lot of time on calls to Veronica when we’re out doing mission work. I can’t believe you didn’t know they were together.”

“Wow, I had no idea you had been…” Shiro trailed off with a smirk, looking for the right way to phrase what he was thinking without completely insulting Keith in the process. “Breaking so many hearts?”

“Space gets lonely,” Keith said with a shrug. “I tried to be patient, but eventually I figured I should explore a few options while I was waiting.”

“Waiting,” Shiro said blankly. “For what?”

“For you to pull your head out of your ass.”

“I don’t…” Shiro trailed off, not knowing what to say and not willing to believe this line of discussion was really going where he thought it might. It was more than he was ever willing to hope for. “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I don’t know why you’d want someone like Curtis,” Keith said, his dark eyes reflecting the lights from the room. “You already have people that care about you. That want to make you happy.”

“Yeah, of course, I know that.”

Keith turned to look at him fully, staring him down with a liquid heat that Shiro suddenly felt caught in. “Do you?” He asked, acid slipping into his voice.

“Yes. You’ve always called me your brother,” Shiro stated. “And you’ve saved my life more times than I can ever repay. If there’s one thing I can always count on, Keith, it’s your friendship.”

Keith closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. His patience was wearing thin, and Shiro’s stubbornness was making this a lot harder than he wanted it to be. He had never wanted to be the one to push this - to push their friendship beyond what might be the breaking point. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that they had reached the top of the cliff, and while Shiro had been through too much to risk it, it had been a long time since Keith had been too afraid to jump. Right now he was more scared of what the future would hold if he didn’t. 

Shiro had been pushing him away for a while now, and after everything they had been through with Haggar, the destruction of realities, and Allura’s sacrifice, it had only gotten worse. Over the last year they had barely seen each other, only checking in with calls every few weeks when one of them made an effort to stay in touch. Of course, they had both been busy. Helping to stabilize and rebuild the universe was time consuming. But it wasn’t the physical distance that stung as much as the weapons-grade emotional detachment Shiro seemed to have put in place when it came to him.

He had seen things in the abyss with his mother. Some of it was in the past and some had happened later. He had seen Shiro and Curtis at what looked like a wedding. Together.

Keith had to believe that it was possible to change that vision. He couldn’t bear the thought of it becoming a reality. 

There was another image he had seen though - something that felt extremely familiar in this moment - that Keith sought to bring into existence.

“More than a brother, Shiro,” Keith said quietly. He closed his eyes, not sure he could be brave enough to make this confession while looking at those gray eyes and the man he would do anything for. “I’m not sure there’s even a word for what you are. Everything? Of course, I saved you - I can’t even think about a world without you in it. I’d rather die trying to save you than live with you gone. I’ve already done that too many times.”

Shiro stared at him with wide eyes, shock evident on his face. He looked down, taking a deep breath, hands linked together as if in prayer. Keith made a quick wish to whatever was out there listening that he hadn’t ruined things beyond repair. Finally, Shiro looked back up at him.

“Keith.” His name was like a whispered devotion on Shiro’s lips. “How long? How long have you felt this way?”

“Forever?” Keith said with a sad sigh. Shiro was calm, quiet. His eyes were soft as they looked at Keith. But then, he thought, they usually were. He was in free fall now, over that cliff. Honesty was flowing out of him, faster than wind on a hovercraft. “Probably almost as long as I’ve known you if I’m being honest. I didn’t recognize it for what it was until my Blade trials. But I couldn’t really lie to myself any more after my time with Krolia in the abyss. Confronting your past and getting glimpses of the future tends to force a person to face all of their inner bullshit.”

The future. For a moment, Shiro desperately wanted to know what he had seen. He wanted to know if the future he wanted but told himself he couldn’t have was really possible. If it could be woven into the universe so securely that Keith had seen it years ago.

“After the trials... Is that why you left?”

“Not exactly,” Keith said slowly. “But that was part of it. You were back. Able to pilot.  But you were... different. I didn’t understand it at the time, but obviously you weren’t really  _ YOU _ …”

“I remember.” He didn’t want to remember - the way he had treated Keith while he wasn’t really  _ himself _ left him feeling guilty, even though logically he knew he had been trapped at the time and wasn’t directly responsible.  Having memories of actions he took, but didn’t, was still something Shiro was still trying to come to terms with. “Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“I did,” Keith said quietly. “But then, I guess you probably don’t remember…”

Shiro’s eyes dropped to his lap, watching his left hand rub unconsciously at his pant leg. “I do,” he said quietly. 

He remembered the shock he had felt, a snap shifting something into place in his - not his - brain. The pain that followed immediately after, as his Galra arm had been hacked off. Then - floating, and a feeling of weightlessness he still didn’t understand. He remembered waking up in the healing pod, seeing Keith’s face above him, and those words -  _ I love you _ \- echoing in the back of his brain. It had taken him a while to realize it was Keith’s voice, and not his own saying it to Keith, that he remembered.

“So, yeah,” Keith said, suddenly nervous and running a hand through his dark hair. “This doesn’t change anything, right? I don’t want... I don’t want to lose you. I’ll deal - I’ve gotten good at that. None of this really matters anyway…”

Shiro grabbed Keith’s hand with his human one, looking at him so forcefully Keith swallowed a gasp. “Of course it does,” he said.

“Shiro, I know I’m not what you want. I don’t want to be some type of,” Keith’s mouth twisted as if the word itself tasted unpleasant, “obligation. I know exactly how your sense of duty works, and I won’t collect on it. You don’t owe me anything. That’s why I never wanted to be the one to say any of this in the first place.”

The realization hit Shiro like a runaway cargo ship: Keith wasn’t going to believe him. He had waited too long, been too much of a coward. Shiro, who prided himself on his courage, his willingness to charge into any necessary situation, his ability to see all the angles and implement strategies - THIS had blindsided him. Not in all the time, all the months since he woke up in Keith’s arms free from wandering the Black Lion’s consciousness alone, had Shiro once considered that Keith felt the same way he did. That Keith could possibly love him in the same way he loved Keith.

“I wish I had known… or recognized what you were trying to tell me,” Shiro said, refusing to let go of Keith’s hands. They were anchoring him, giving him the strength to find the words that would explain everything. “I was a mess for a while - that’s no excuse, I know, but --”

“Nobody blames you for needing to get your head together after everything you went through, Shiro,” Keith whispered, giving his hand a tight squeeze.

“I know, but,” Shiro sighed. “We’ve wasted so much time. I should have told you sooner.”

“Told me…?”

He looked at Keith, getting caught in the blue-violet depths that were swirling with concern. “I love you, too.”

Keith pulled his hands away and took a step back, and Shiro watched as the shutters came down over his expression, protecting himself. He knew how deeply self-defense was ingrained in Keith’s persona. “You don’t have to say that --”

“I do. I never thought — I never let myself hope that you could feel the same as I do,” Shiro said softly. “By the time I was able to really function, and things had settled down with the war, you were seeing Axca. What was I supposed to think? I couldn’t risk our friendship for something that you weren’t going to have any interest in.”

Keith was silent, taking in the information but not responding in any discernible way. Shiro kept talking, hoping that somehow he would find the words to convince Keith of his feelings. 

“I’d been lucky once - with Adam - to have both my best friend and the love of my life in one person. I didn’t think there was any way the universe would let me have that twice.” Shiro’s voice ended on a whisper. The pain of losing Adam from the world would always be something he carried with him, no matter how much time passed.

“Shiro,” Keith murmured, moving forward to comfort him. He moved to take hold of Shiro’s hands, but those grabbed at his waist as soon as he was within reach. Keith’s hands settled on Shiro’s bicep and chest, smoothing the fabric underneath them. The warmth of Keith next to him, the sensation of feeling those hands on his body, made Shiro dizzy with want. He closed his eyes, letting his head drop slightly until their foreheads pressed together.

“I want everything with you, Keith,” whispered Shiro, letting the honest flow of feelings finally slip from him like a flood held back for too long. “I want  _ you _ .”

Shiro opened his eyes to look down and saw Keith looking back in shock and disbelief. He didn’t want to wait anymore, not when the man he had wanted since waking up in this body was right in front of him and in his arms. He needed to jump, and trust that Keith would catch him, like he always did. His human hand came up to slide along the side of Keith’s neck, stroking the soft skin gently with his thumb as he leaned down to meet Keith’s lips with his own.

Shiro’s body hummed with the feeling of coming home as they kissed, soft and tentative at first. They fit together like a key in a lock, as if they had always been meant to hold each other like this. A warm fire burned low in his stomach, the potential to ignite into a roaring fire with just a nudge.

Keith had recovered from his initial shock at the contact and met Shiro’s passion with his own, grasping at his shirt to pull him closer as his mouth sought to dominate. Tongues teased each other as the kiss deepened, seeking entrance and tasting each other. Shiro felt a tremor run through Keith’s back as he eventually pulled away to catch his breath, and he struggled to tame the flames that had grown to an inferno inside him.

They stared at each other for a moment, both their expressions full of love, and Shiro couldn’t resist stealing one more peck at Keith’s reddened lips. Shiro had known for quite a while that Keith was attractive. But this Keith ( _ his Keith _ , he thought smugly) with a flush on his cheeks, bee-stung lips in a crooked smile, and space-colored eyes shining with affection, was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in the entire universe.

“Better than Lance, I hope?” Shiro joked, unable to keep the grin from lighting up his face. Keith threw back his head and laughed hysterically, before reaching up behind Shiro’s head to pull him in for another kiss.

“Yes, definitely better than Lance,” Keith agreed. Shiro was sure his smile could have lit up the room. “I’d say top five, for sure.”

“Top five?” Shiro said incredulously. “You know I’m pretty attached to being the best at things. I might have to see what I can do to improve my score. I don’t think I can rest until I’m number one.”

He smiled at Keith as he pulled him closer, capturing Keith’s mouth with his own once again.

Before they could get too carried away, Shiro heard a vague humming in his head, and Keith pulled away with a gasp. “It’s Black!” he said, turning toward the window.

Shiro hadn’t had any connection to the lion since Allura had removed him from Black’s consciousness. The fact that he could suddenly hear something now and Keith was looking so alarmed had him running outside to chase the sound before Keith could stop him.

Keith came running behind him, and they saw that all the lions were there - and all the paladins, who had obviously been pulled out of bed. Blue was leading the group, hovering in front of Lance. It looked as though they were having a silent conversation. All of them were, including Keith who had stopped just in front of him. Shiro couldn’t actually hear the lions, just a noise - like an echo - in his head. He didn’t know what was going on, but he reached out to take Keith’s hand, just in case.

“They’re leaving,” Keith whispered, and the lions shot up into the sky, flying away into the night.

“Why now?” asked Shiro, still staring at the sky where the robots that changed their lives had disappeared.

“They were waiting…” Keith said slowly. He turned to look at Shiro, eyes wide with surprise and sadness. “Black was waiting - for us. For you and I. She wouldn’t go until we found each other. Until she knew we wouldn’t be alone…”

Shock and sadness pulsed through Shiro’s body as he pulled Keith in to hold him tight. Most of all, a deep sense of appreciation filled him. He might have lost his connection to the lions years ago, but he had come away from the experience anchored so deeply to someone else that he would make sure to never lose him.

“You’ll never be alone,” Shiro promised Keith as they clung to each other under the stars. “We’ll always have each other.”

Keith looked up, grabbing Shiro and kissing him roughly. As he pulled away, Shiro gazed at him with dazed, soft eyes. Keith glanced over to the others, finally noticing that Pidge, Lance, and Hunk were all huddled together, holding tightly to each other. He pulled out of Shiro’s embrace and grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the rest of the paladins.

The two leaders wrapped themselves around the rest of the team, holding each other’s hand as they joined the group hug. Losing the lions wasn’t going to be easy, and Shiro guessed that the paladins would all go through a mourning period, just as he did when he’d lost his connection to Black. But they would get through it the same way they had gotten through everything else. 

Together. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far, I'd love to know what you think!


End file.
